That could cripple the ability of the Colorado Rivers four Upper Basin states to deliver river water to the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada, as theyre legally obligated to do. The water in Lake Powell is low because the amount of water in the Colorado River has been falling for decades. The combined reservoirs in Utah are below 50% full. A large portion of the water in the Colorado River and Lake Powell comes from high-mountain snowmelt in Colorado and Wyoming. For terms of use and more information, visit our policies pages athttp://www.sciencefriday.com/about/policies/. The Lower Basin states have already agreed on two short-term programs to reduce their take of water from Mead. John Dankosky works with the radio team to create our weekly show, and is helping to build our State of Science Reporting Network. Correction: A previous version of this story indicated that 3,490 feet is Lake Powell's "dead pool" level. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, for water. A years worth of rain and snow is missing from Utahs ground. Thousands of Tucson homes use 250% more water than you. I would say less than 20 percent, Ostler said. Definitions explained. And data updated Monday from the California Department of Water Resources' tracker show the reservoir climbing to 60%, still below historical levels for February 72% but significantly higher than it had been. JOHN DANKOSKY: So you know, with so many stories like this, we say, this is probably due to climate change. The second largest reservoir in the U.S. by total capacity after Lake Mead, Lake Powell spans the Utah/Arizona border, and is an artificial lake created from damming the Colorado River. It is something in peer-reviewed, published science for decades and decades that the managers of the Colorado River have been ignoring.. The fact that they're becoming involved in this manner points to real concerns that they must have and they must view the situation as one of extreme difficulty that requires them to act more directly. Its lagging in both the Upper and Lower basins, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects much of the watershed totilt toward hotter and drier weatherfor the rest of the winter. "We can make up energy through fossil fuels, but if we fall short on water, we have to restrict supply because there are little to no replacements," he said. A pair of before and after photos at Lake Powell . If the lakes levels drop below 3,490, Hawes added, the Bureau of Reclamation will have to run water through a series of river outlet tubes, the lowest delivery mechanism in the lake, for the first time since the 1980s, and bureau officials dont actually know if they can handle that much water, she said. Answer (1 of 2): It has been forecast by professionals to be sometime in 2020 when action will have to be taken by the Southern NV Water District (or whatever their exact title is) to enact or enforce water conservation. Throughout the history of the American West, water issues have shown their ability to both unite and divide communities. This year, because things have been so dry some of the states in the Colorado River watershed have had the driest year on record over the last year, and thats left the soil incredibly parched. Lake Powell (credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) The power pool mark is 3,490 feet of elevation. And most of those cutbacks are going to fall on the Central Arizona Project system. Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . Newsweek previously reported that Lake Mead's dead pool level is 895 feet, while Lake Powell's is 3,370. The negotiations promise to be a more intense process than the basin saw in the lead-up to the last set of guidelines in 2007, or the effort to bring together drought contingency plans in 2019. What are the effects of climate change? So, what would happen if Lake Powell dried up? Welcome back to Science Friday, Luke. Lake Mead the largest reservoir in the Colorado River Basin is losing water at record speeds, dropping . Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. The district entered 2021 with a record 3.2 million acre-feet of water storage saved up, including 1.3 million acre-feet in Lake Mead. "The federal government generally prefers to let the stakeholders work things through, Sorensen said. . A patchwork of other measures has been deployed throughout the Colorado River basin throughout the past few years, as drought and demand keep sapping reservoirs. We don't know what happens below 3,490, said Taylor Hawes, Colorado River program director at the Nature Conservancy. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Colorado River tribes pose statewide leasing idea, Risks to Lake Mead, Colorado River intensifying greatly, federal officials say, Arizona basketball | Tommy Lloyd on the wild, fun nature of college hoops | Feb. 28, 2023, Millions at Risk of Slipping Into Poverty as COVID-Era SNAP Benefits Set to End, More than 300 words have been added to the English dictionary. The Colorado River cuts through dry land that was once covered by Lake Powell on September 7, 2022, near Hite, Utah. This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. This is the highest percentage of land in the rivers Upper Basin since 2002, which stands as the regions driest year on record. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. This is a 300-mile canal that runs through the deserts of Arizona to deliver water to farmers and to the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. He and his wife have four cats, thousands of bees, and a yoga studio in the sleepy Northwest hills of Connecticut. The repercussions of a draining water supply are immense -- farms are drying up, a once-thriving marina now sits more than a mile from lake water and Arizona's Department of Water Resources is . Lakes Mead and Powell. Lake Powell's feeble condition is part of a climate reckoning in the West that links water, ecosystems, food production, and energy generation. As part of 2019s Drought Contingency Plan, water managers agreed that the reservoirs water should be kept above 3,525 feet to provide a buffer before it got even lower, giving the agencies in charge some time to come up with a fix. It supplies water and power to Arizona, California and Nevada. He says such measures can help, for sure. As of August 10, water levels were measured to be 3,534.51 feet above sea level. Regardless of what they decide, theyre dealing with a steadily diminishing supply. We are really in unprecedented territory right now, and its not even close, Meyer said. The river also crosses over the US-Mexico border and two Mexican states, Baja California and Sonora. Balken said depositing the lake's water in Lake Mead, which isn't made out of sandstone,. LUKE RUNYON: Well, this is kind of a narrative or storyline in the basin that has gotten a lot more attention recently, is how have tribal users been excluded from agreements in the past? Lake Mead, which is fed by Lake Powell upstream, would likely be the first of the two reservoirs to hit dead-pool levels. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Because of that, its expected that the Department of the Interior'sBureau of Reclamation, which oversees water management, will mandate onesometime next year. We are still facing a nearly 1 in 4 chance of Lake Powell returning to "minimum power pool" by 2024 - a risk that remains steady through 2026, the latest year for which Reclamation has forecast. LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. Nancy Selover, Arizonas state climatologist, says the Upper Basin figure is concerning because that accounts for the rivers headwaters. The nation's second-largest reservoir is under pressure from climate change and steady demand, and is now . The future of the reservoir is largely uncertain, but climate science and recent actions by the government are providing some hints as to what might happen in the near future. Depending on how you define "dry up." It's doubtful that all 1,450 miles of the Colorado River will turn to dust, even if we drain Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation's two largest. Grim Future for Lake Powell Water levels in Lake Powell are at record lows. In addition, the river itself experiences more evaporation. This segment is part of the The State Of Science spotlight. Those are Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah. Lake Powell is rapidly drying up as a result of the scorching megadrought in the Western U.S., and may completely disappear in just decades. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The southwestern states have been gripped by drought for over 22 years, experts say. Lake Oroville (of the enormous spillway failure fame) and Lake Shasta, two of California's largest reservoirs, are at critical levels. They werent able to come up with an agreement. Because of that, the spring and early summer will bring a temporary boost to water levels while snow runs into rivers and eventually flows into Lake Powell. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Keep reading with a digital access subscription. He spent two years at Aspen Public Radio, mainly reporting on the resort economy, the environment and the COVID-19 pandemic. Alex is KUNC's reporter covering the Colorado River Basin. Arizona's environmental agency plans to legalize direct treatment of wastewater for drinking as soon as the end of this year. The Lower Basins legal share is 7.5 million acre feet a year. A load balancing cookie set to ensure requests by a client are sent to the same origin server. The use of these cookies is strictly limited to measuring the site's audience. Lake Powell is supposed to buffer water supply during times of drought [and] it is not performing that function now. The Lower Basin fares worse, with 93% of the land area in those categories. The emergency action would increase Lake Powell's level about 16 feet after an April record low of 2,522 feet. It's been a vital force for the intermountain West because of its ability to. Lake Powell, the country's second-largest reservoir and a key source of water and power for much of the West, is more parched than ever.Earlier this month, the lake dropped below 25% capacity . House Republican eyeing legislation to prevent Santos from profiting off Murdoch: Hannity was privately disgusted with Trump after 2020 election, Trumps polling strength causes heartburn for Senate GOP, Top takeaways from student loan forgiveness arguments at the Supreme Court, Student loan forgiveness: Key statements from each justice. 3,490 feet of elevation of 2,522 feet classified into a category as yet build! 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